Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 (as amended): Fairer Scotland Duty assessment

Background

20. The responsibility for waste and recycling is within devolved competence in the Scotland. Deposit return schemes (DRSs) will be launched in October 2027 covering Scotland and another for England and Northern Ireland. The three governments are committed to delivering DRSs that are as interoperable and as simple as possible for consumers and businesses, whilst achieving the economic and environmental goals of the scheme. As such, the three governments have agreed to jointly launch the DRSs in October 2027. The Welsh Government continues to develop its approach to DRS.

21. The Scottish Government initially announced the design of a Scotland only DRS on 8 May 2019 and published draft Regulations on 10 September 2019^[12]. The DRS design and Regulations were informed by extensive public consultation, international best practice and engagement with a broad range of stakeholders.

22. In order to move forward with a scheme in conjunction with other parts of the UK, some modification is required to the existing DRS legislation in Scotland. The main changes which impact directly on consumers are:

• Changing the launch date of the scheme from October 2025 to October 2027.
• Removing glass drinks containers from the scope of the scheme.
• Removing mandatory takeback services for scheme articles purchased online.
• Minimum size of container has increased to 150ml from 100ml.
• The scope of return point obligation in retailers is reduced. Groceries retailers must operate a return point at any retail premises in Scotland unless they have an exemption. They are automatically exempt if the retail premises of the groceries retailer has limited retail space (less then 100m2), and is situated in an urban area. A groceries retailer can apply for an exemption from operating a return point if there is an alternative return point within reasonable proximity; or on the grounds that the location, layout, size, design, or construction of the retail premises does not permit, or cannot reasonably be altered to permit, the operation of a return point.
• Designating the scheme administrator and giving it functions, including, setting the deposit level, which may be a variable or flat rate depending on the size of the container.

23. There is ongoing support for the introduction of DRS in the UK. In 2021 DEFRA published a consultation^[13] to examine the design of DRS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Responses to this consultation continued to show support for the introduction of a DRS in the UK. Supporting those consultation findings, a polling exercise by TOMRA Collection earlier this year (2024) also highlighted strong support for the introduction of DRS across the UK.^[14]